Hamilton sets the pace at scorching Sepang

20 comments on “Hamilton sets the pace at scorching Sepang”

1. 

   Sravan Krishnan (@sravan-pe)
   30th September 2016, 8:52

   “There is part of this car, part of the front suspension, which doesn’t really suit Lewis Hamilton’s driving style particularly well – and that manifests itself at circuits which reward big late braking, like Singapore and like Italy, where Nico Rosberg won.”
   -Ted Kravitz, SkyF1

   Hamilton was on pole by nearly half a second in Italy so how does that fit into this equation? Sky is now unbearable because of all these excuses. Ridiculous.
   1. 

      altitude2k
      30th September 2016, 9:06

      OK?
   2. 

      Sam A
      30th September 2016, 9:20

      Maybe he’d have had pole by 1 second if the car was tailored more in his direction. The gap between Rosberg and Hamilton has certainly closed up since the end of last year.
      1. 

         Philip (@philipgb)
         30th September 2016, 10:03

         And maybe a car that suited Hamilton more than Rosberg wouldn’t be the outright fastest car. You can hypothesise any scenario, the simple fact is Mercedes has built the fastest car. In Italy Hamilton extracted the most pace from it but let down with the start, in Singapore Rosberg extracted the most pace from it, and in this practice session, Hamilton had the edge.

         @sravan-pe is right about Sky, specifically Kravitz. The guy talks rubbish but does so with the confidence and authority of an expert. I still remember him saying these cars don’t need spark plugs due to their direct injection.
         1. 

            rushfan
            30th September 2016, 21:00

            Hamilton has had continual reliability problems, that’s the only reason Rosberg has beaten him these times. Keep in mind that Hamilton has beaten Rosberg in every category since they were kids.. he is the fastest driver. Stop hypothesising yourself I would venture.
            1. 

               Philip (@philipgb)
               30th September 2016, 23:43

               No
         2. 

            Mark
            1st October 2016, 4:45

            They must be diesels…..right Ted? Lol.
   3. 

      Kgn11
      30th September 2016, 10:32

      Mercedes have been using this front suspension system since Singapore 2015. It was the reason behind why they struggled their so much last year
   4. 

      BasCB (@bascb)
      30th September 2016, 10:49

      Read this http://www.motorsportmagazine.com/opinion/f1/putting-brakes-hamilton-conspiracy-theories?utm_source=RosHam&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Mark @sravan-pe.

      Before Pirelli mandated harder tyres, Mercedes had a softer front suspension, and that helped Hamilton get more advantage from “his late braking, late turn in” – which gives him the edge especially over Rosberg. With the harder tyres, Mercedes moved to a sturdier suspension to keep the front at stable ride height (started after seeing how they lost out in Singapore last year). That made the car faster vs. the competition. But it took away some of the scope for being faster over his teammate for Hamilton (he tried taking the older component in Abu Dhabi 2015. It made him slower), and especially on bumpier tracks with hard braking like Singapore and Baku.
      1. 

         Sravan Krishnan (@sravan-pe)
         30th September 2016, 12:17

         But then I never heard anyone (media included) ever saying that the pre-Singapore 2015 front suspension did not suit Rosberg’s driving style and hence the performance deficit to Hamilton. Works both ways.
         1. 

            renatoarj
            30th September 2016, 13:04

            Whenever Hamilton is behind some guys like Ted come up with all these loud theories about something that happened in the car that is making Hamilton uncomfortable to justify Rosberg being faster. But when the faster guy is Hamilton, it’s just down to pure talent and his “ultra-super-mega” fast driving style.
            I consider hamilton the better driver of the two, however I can accept that Rosberg can have better pace at some moments, unlike most of the guys at sky, and this is what is making this year’s season great.
      2. 

         bosyber (@bosyber)
         30th September 2016, 13:28

         A good article by Mark Hughes as usual @bascb, and useful to show why the relative balance between the Mercedes drivers shifted; Pity for Hamilton, I guess he’ll have to adapt. And perhaps a pity for the WCC competition as now Merc. are faster once again, though it has given us an actual fight for the championship :-)
   5. 

      Trublu
      1st October 2016, 6:17

      You and Teddy Kravitz are on opposite ends of the spectrum. To Ted, Hamilton can do no wrong. To you, Hamilton can never do right.
2. 

   hahostolze (@hahostolze)
   30th September 2016, 9:02

   Fascinating race this may well be. Merc clearly fastest over one lap but Ferrari right on it on longer runs, as is Verstappen. Hope this leads to an exciting race.
   1. 

      JeffreyJ
      30th September 2016, 11:34

      Ferrari often looks good in longtun pace on friday just to have it magically dissapear on sunday.

      I think they simply run lower fuel levels and use more DRS for long runs.
3. 

   Sonics (@sonicslv)
   30th September 2016, 10:17

   So far the new Honda engine show promise. I know it’s still only second practice, but considering Button and Alonso usually pretty close, I think it’s a real sign of performance improvement from the engine.
   1. 

      spoutnik (@spoutnik)
      30th September 2016, 12:03

      @sonicslv indeed. Let’s hope that 0.5 gain is to be credited to the engine. In the meantime, Alonso has always been very strong when things change (as is the case now with new surface, cambers,..) or with unpredictability.
      Let’s see in the coming races.
      1. 

         Jay Menon (@jaymenon10)
         30th September 2016, 14:26

         Fernando had always been good at Sepang… If the engine lives up to its promise.. He could finish in the points because he typically makes the most out of his opportunities
   2. 

      Raveendhana
      30th September 2016, 12:07

      And with alonso have 30 place grid penalty, gonna be a difficult race for him
   3. 

      Pinak Ghosh (@pinakghosh)
      30th September 2016, 12:07

      The Honda engine certainly showing signs of improvement. Lets hope it is fast AND reliable.

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